The Line of Fire
by seaHP
Summary: Lana McGreggon is a Sixth Year at Hogwarts. She has a tiny (huge) crush on Albus Potter. Will a bet between Scorpius and Rose reveal her true feelings towards Albus? Albus/OC. Pre- Rose/Scorpius.


I currently hate my life. No joke. I already have detention for the rest of my years at Hogwarts, plus I'm grounded for the rest of my life. I mean, it wasn't even that big of a deal! I just hexed this girl named Veronica Goyle because she was teasing Rose behind her back. Then, she tried to use an unforgivable curse on me, but it backfired, and when a teacher came, she blamed me for trying to curse her.

"Are you okay Lana?" Rose called, hurrying towards me, her red hair flying behind her.

"No. This is all your fault, you know." I responded, pointing a finger at her. "If you weren't such a-" (insert rude word here) "to everyone, I wouldn't be in this mess!"

Rose stifled a giggle behind her hand, and I grudgingly returned her smile. Rose knew that I was just in one of my moods. Plus, she couldn't be mean to anyone, even if she tried.

Wait! I take that back! She is currently glaring bullets at Malfoy, her arch nemesis. I am not in the mood for one of their fights today.

"Oi, Malfoy!" Rose calls. I groan to myself and throw my head back. Why must she start these things, and why, oh why, must I be around to see it unfold.

Malfoy's eyes flicker towards Rose, his mouth pulling up into a smirk. "Weasel," he drawls, using the name she hates so much. "What do you want?" he asks, suddenly looking bored. "I'm guessing that you didn't just call me over to admire me. Sorry Weasel, you don't have that privilege. In order to do that, you have to be pretty, and you fall under the category of 'ugly mudblood.'"

Rose glowers at him in return and responds, "Believe me, the last thing I want to do is be in a room with you and your ego- it would suffocate me. And just so you know, I called you over so that you can warn that bimbo cousin of yours to not mess with Lana again, or she won't wake up with hair the next day." Rose rolled her eyes to the top of her head before continuing. "And it's better to be a mudblood than death eater spawn. At least _my_ parents fought against Voldemort, while yours practically worshipped him."

Malfoy opened his mouth to say something snappy, but I was suddenly distracted by a certain raven-haired, green-eyed boy who had just entered the room. His eyes move from Malfoy to Rose before his gaze comes to stop on me. My heart does this weird thing, and I try to act nonchalant as he makes his way towards me.

"Hey Al," I greet him, cringing when my voice sounded a few octaves higher than normal.

"Hey Lana," he says, smiling, before glancing at Rose and Scorpius, where their argument seemed to have escalated. "Honestly," he says, rolling his eyes to the ceiling, "I love them both to death, but you would think that they were a bunch of wild animals!" I choke back a laugh and say, in a normal voice, might I add, "You want to grab lunch so that we can get out of the range of fire?"

His laugh turns into a worried look as a fuming Rose comes our way. "Albus Severus Potter!", she screams, her face the color of tomato soup, "If you can't get a hold on that stupid friend of yours, I swear he will be hexed into oblivion." She shoots a sharp glance at me. "Come on Lana, we're going."

"So much for getting out of the range of fire," Al mutters as I pass him in the hall. I choke back a laugh, and look back as he is making his way towards a gloating Malfoy.

…..

"I'm going to lose," Rose exclaims, flopping onto her bed. "To Malfoy," she explained to my questioning look.

I scrape my wavy brown hair into a ponytail, and flop onto the bed beside hers. "What did you do?" I ask, rubbing lotion onto my tan legs.

"I bet that he couldn't keep a steady girlfriend for two months, and he bet that I couldn't get a boy to ask me out. I have eleven galleons riding on this!"

"Wait, what do you have to do?" I could hardly hear Rose because of the rising hysteria in her voice.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "He can't dump the girl he asks to the Valentine's Day Ball for two months, and I have to get an invitation to it, plus, the boy needs to stay with me the whole night! I can't do that! I have a bazillion cousins that attack any boy that even looks at me, not to mention Scorpion will try to sabotage any boy who tries to ask me out! I can't lose! I don't think my dad would be thrilled if I asked for money because I lost a bet to _Malfoy_ , of all people!"

"Whoa, chill Rose! You'll get asked to the dance! Most of your cousins graduated last year an-"

"And Al has taken it upon himself to make up for their absences!" she interrupts. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Listen, I'll keep Al distracted that night," I say, trying to ignore the blush that is creeping up my cheeks, "and I'll make sure that Scorpius goes out with someone who won't be able to stop snogging him, got it?"

Rose's eyes flash at something I said, but is wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, so I only saw it for a second. She climbs over her bad to hug me, saying, "Thanks L."

"No problem Ro." She shoots me a watery smile before climbing into her bed.

"Thank goodness that drama fest is over!" I look over to see Ava Longbottom emerging from the bathroom, her blonde hair wet. "I was trying to enjoy my shower, but you two couldn't stop yapping. I had to give up on my relaxing shower," she says, pretending to faint onto her bed. "So tragic!"

The three of us collapse into giggles, and are still chortling as her twin sister comes into our room. "What are you laughing about? I swear, if you continue to talk while I am trying to enjoy my beauty sleep, you will all deeply regret it." Ava rolls her eyes behind her sister's back and I suddenly get a flash of inspiration.

"Hey Alice, who are you going to the dance with?" I ask. Her piercing blue eyes dart to me. You see, Alice is a bit of a, how do I put this nicely, a whore. I guess that that's nicer than the word I was going to use. She would do anything for a good snog, and, as much as it pains me to admit this, really pretty with her black hair and blue eyes. Plus, she has never gone out with Scorpius, and he doesn't go out with the same girl twice. Honestly, at the rate he goes through girls, I'm surprised that there are any left.

"Nobody," she responds, her eyes narrowing. "Why? Do you know someone hot?"

"I don't know about that, but Scorpius Malfoy is looking for someone. Maybe you should see about him?"

She nods her head and then goes to her closet to pick out an outfit for the following day. I breath a sigh a relief and pray that Albus will go with me. As friends, of course!

…..

"Hey Al, what's up?" I say, sliding into the seat next to him, even though I wasn't in Slytherin.

"L!" he responds, his green eyes sparkling. "What're you doing here?"

"I wanted to ask who you were taking to the ball." I started to wring my hands nervously.

"Eh, whoever's cute enough." I shove his shoulder. I obviously know that Al is similar to Scorpius in the sense that he moves through girls quickly, but he is way nicer than Malfoy. "Why?" he asks, his voice curious.

"No reason," I hear myself say. No! I need to help Rose! I have to ask him to the ball. Where has my Gryffindor courage gone? "Wait. I don't have anyone to go with either, and I was wondering, if you maybe wanted to, go with me. As friends."

"Of course," he responds to my clear discomfort. He lets out a loud sigh. "I suppose that it's better to go with you than alone. Actually, it might be more embarrassing to go with you, but I'm a man of my word, and I've already said that I'd go." I give him another shove, but my heart feels really light as I proceed to eat my breakfast.

"Hey Scorpius," I hear a seductive voice say. Scorpius whips around and smirks at Alice Longbottom, who is wearing a very revealing outfit, in front of her father, might I add.

"To what do I owe this immense pleasure, Miss Longbottom?" Scorpius says with a tone of voice that implies he already knows what she wants.

I really don't want to see these two, um, whores, flirt it out. They were obviously going to go together, and I didn't want to see it play out.

Albus, sensing my discomfort, squeezes my arm and whispers, "Want to get out of the line of fire?" I nod my head, and he grabs my hand and pulls me out. I am extremely aware of his hand in mine, but he lets go as soon as we're out of the Grand Hall.

"See you at the dance," he says winking at me. I think that I stopped breathing. Honestly. I really wished that he liked me as more than just his cousins best friend.

…...

I looked at myself in the mirror, loving the way the light pink tulle looked with my light brown hair, which was pulled back into a bun, with a few tendrils of my curly hair lose around my face.

Just then another, gloomier face, came into view. "Rose, quit sulking! You look beautiful!" She truly did look great; I wasn't just being polite. She was wearing a light blue, chiffon dress, and she left her hair down, but used something to make it straight and glossy, instead of her usual frizz.

She had found a date, and I thought that he was cute for her. His name was Thomas Wood and he was a Ravenclaw. Rose had immediately said yes, not wanting to lose her side of the bet, but she did nothing but sulk around since that day. I was under the impression that she had a crush on someone else, but she brushes it off saying that she just despises dances.

Rose grumbles in return to my comment and begins to glower at someone out of the corner of her eye. I turn around and do a double take as a realize who she's glaring at. Alice is wearing a very short, red dress. It's a V-neck and there is practically no clothing on her. She also looks like the makeup store exploded on her face.

"Come on Ro, we have to meet our da- the people we are going to the dance with," I say, trying to distract her from Alice.

As we descend the stairs, I see our, um, _the boys_ waiting for us. When I reach Al, I kind of forget all about Rose.

"You look really pretty Lana," he whispers, and I feel his warm breath against my neck.

"Thanks," I say, trying to repress a blush, but failing. "Can we go inside now?" He nods, taking my hand. This time he doesn't let go, and pulls me close on the dance floor.

I'm finally starting to relax, and we even joke around a bit, and then I feel Albus tense up. "What is that bloke doing touching my cousin's arse?" he says, glaring at Thomas Wood who is indeed, resting his hands on Rose's bum. She looks uncomfortable, and I wonder for a split second if I should let Albus scream at him so that Rose could escape. Then, I see her gaze fall on Scorpius Malfoy and she gets this determined look on her face, dragging Thomas to the dance floor.

Al looks ready to hex the living daylights out of Thomas, and I panic, remembering my promise to Rose. Then, forgetting everything, I do the only thing that I could think of to get him to shut up and I kiss him, full on mouth.

It's not like I've kissed a lot of blokes before, but kissing Albus was something different. He hardly wasted a second before responding, his lips moving in sync with mine, his hands coming to my waist. He tasted like cinnamon and cherries, and I deepened the kiss, wanting to taste more.

Then, reality must of hit one of us, because we break apart, breathing heavily. I see the confusion in Al's face, and I really don't want to explain myself. "I'm sorry," I whisper before running out of the hall.

I know Al's calling me, and I'm grateful because this means that he is not hexing Thomas into oblivion. I am also very nervous because, hello, I just kissed him! What am I supposed to say?

"Lana!" I hear Al call. I try to run somewhere else, but he has suddenly found me, and grabs my wrist. "Please let go Al," I plead, turning to face him.

"No," he responds. That simple word reduced me to tears. I don't know what to tell him. I could tell him about the deal between Rose and Scorpius, pretending that the kiss meant nothing to me. Or I could tell him that I fancied him since third year, and that the kiss meant everything to me.

"You kissed me," he says, stating the fact, pretending that I wasn't crying. "Why?" I begin to sob even harder, and I know that my face is probably really blotchy. Suddenly, I feel a soft hand wipe my cheeks, trying to rid me of my tears. I look up at Albus's concerned face and ask, "Can we please wait for this conversation?"

"Sure," he says, sitting down on the floor, wrapping his arms around me. I relax into his touch, and my tears begin to subside. He must have noticed too, because as soon as my breathing began to return to normal, he prompts, "So, the kiss?"

I groan into his chest, and I feel him laughing. Suddenly I get a stroke of inspiration and I stretch my neck up and kiss him again. This time though, he gently pulls away. I pout and say, "I really have to explain?" He nods, so I sigh, and respond, "I kissed you so that you would shut up, happy?"

"There are other ways to get people to shut up you know."

"It was the only thing I could think of. I promised to keep you out of Rose's hair, so I asked you to the dance, so that I could keep you distracted." I look into his eyes and decide that Albus deserved to hear the truth as to why I kissed him. I continued in a quieter voice. "I guess you looked really cute when you were angry, and my hormones kind of took over me." My voice lowered another octave. "It could also be because I've wanted to do that for years, but haven't gotten up the courage."

Al lifts my chin so that I can meet his eyes. "I was supposed to be the one to kiss you."

"We can pretend that the other one never happened," I suggest, hoping that he'll kiss me and that I haven't been dreaming. I mean, I've had dreams like this before.

His eyes sparkle and he pulls me in for a kiss. This time, he deepens it, and one of his hands is running through my hair, which has mysteriously been released from it's bun, the other holding my waist, making sure that I don't go anywhere. My hands are flung around his neck, one of them creeping up to play with his hair.

In this position, with him trailing kisses down my neck, before returning his lips to mine, I feel grateful that we positioned ourselves in the line of fire, because without that stupid bet, I would still have pent up feelings for Albus. Merlin knows what would have happened then!

 _ **Author's Note: Hey ya'll! So, I'm going to be writing the dance from Rose's point of view, so make sure to check it out! I hope that you enjoyed, and please feel free to criticize me. Heaven only knows the help that I need! Lots of love!**_


End file.
